The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved Hawaii’s request to extend Financial Assistance and Direct Temporary Housing Assistance for an additional year, now through Feb. 10, 2026. Originally, the 18-month assistance period was scheduled to end on Feb. 10, 2025.

Although the U.S. Small Business Administration’s deadline for Economic Injury Disaster Loans passed on Saturday, the SBA may still accept late applications if delay was due to circumstances beyond control.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, also urged the Senate on the floor in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to take further steps, including passing disaster relief funding, to support survivors of the Maui wildfires that occurred on Aug. 8, 2023.

“It has now been more than 15 months since the ferocious fires leveled Lahaina in August of last year, destroying 2,200 structures — most of them homes — and displacing more than 12,000 people,” Schatz said. “For more than a year, survivors and their families have shifted from one temporary housing unit to the next, struggling to find any semblance of stability.”

He emphasized that finding new employment remains challenging due to lagging tourism, and that rebuilding small businesses has been difficult without access to capital and a robust workforce. On top of these hurdles, survivors and the broader Maui community continue to face immense mental grief and challenges, he said.

“They are doing all that they can to get back on their feet for themselves and their families, for their communities,” Schatz said. “But the simple fact is, they cannot do it alone; they need the federal government’s help.”

Schatz also stressed the need to provide flexible, long-term recovery assistance in the form of Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funding, which will enable survivors to rebuild their homes and communities as quickly as possible.

Disaster recovery funds — appropriated by Congress and allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — are essential for rebuilding disaster-impacted areas like Lahaina, which was devastated by the 2023 Maui wildfires.

The flexible grants provide crucial seed money to kickstart the long-term recovery process.

The funds assist cities, counties, Indian tribes and states in recovering from presidentially-declared disasters, with a particular focus on low-income areas, depending on the availability of supplemental appropriations. The funding can support a wide range of recovery activities, enabling HUD to help communities like Lahaina that might otherwise struggle to rebuild due to limited resources.

Schatz, however, said “that isn’t enough.

“It’s not enough to clean up the wreckage and say ‘the rest is on you.’ The federal government’s responsibility to help survivors does not end when the streets are clear, walking away halfway through the process, leaving exhausted survivors high and dry with no one to turn to, is not an acceptable or successful outcome.”

FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration have approved over $474.6 million in federal assistance for survivors of the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires.

The funding includes $61.7 million in FEMA assistance for 7,152 individuals and households, with $39.3 million allocated for housing assistance — of which $33.1 million is for rental assistance — and $22.4 million for other help.

Additionally, the SBA has approved $412.9 million in disaster loans to support affected homeowners, renters, and businesses on Maui.

FEMA’s Direct Housing assistance currently includes both lease housing and modular housing, also known as Alternative Transportable Temporary Housing units, located at the Kilohana Temporary Group Housing Site as well as primary and secondary sites.

FEMA is actively constructing the Kilohana site, where 167 modular units will provide housing for survivors.

These Alternative Transportable Temporary Housing Units are prefabricated, furnished units available in one-, two- or three-­bedroom layouts, designed to meet county, state and federal requirements.

In support of the initiative, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors are working on an emergency sewer project at the Kilohana site, located in Lahaina on Fleming Road and Malo Street.

As of Tuesday, 1,182 households are temporarily residing in FEMA’s direct lease housing.

Starting Feb. 10, 2025, when the extended period of financial assistance and direct temporary housing assistance begins, FEMA will implement a rental requirement. Rent will be based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Market Rent and adjusted according to each household’s ability to pay. FEMA has also approved a streamlined process to simplify rent calculations.

For primary sites, homeowners enrolled in the Direct Housing Program may be eligible to place an Alternative Transportable Temporary Housing Unit on their property, allowing them to live onsite while they rebuild. The property must meet specific lot size requirements and be located outside of high-hazard coastal floodplains.

For secondary sites, FEMA is seeking to lease vacant lots from property owners who do not intend to rebuild within the next two to three years. The properties will house individuals and families displaced by the wildfires, with placement on the leased property selected by FEMA. The property must meet lot size requirements, be outside of the high-hazard coastal floodplain, and allow for the placement of two or more temporary units.